Previous Updates:
- Another Strong Quake Hits Sumatra
- Disaster Update: Indonesia Quake
- Powerful Earthquake Strikes Southern Sumatra, Indonesia
As of Saturday, October 3, virtually no help has reached rural areas.
Up to 4,000 people (figure provided by UN officials) are feared trapped under hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble after a magnitude 7.9 quake destroyed more than 25,000 houses and buildings across seven districts on a 100-km stretch along the western coast of Sumatra island, Indonesia on September 30, 2009.
“We estimate there are still eight people trapped alive under Ambacang Hotel. We are still trying hard to evacuate them,” a rescuer told reporters, in Padang.
Indonesians look at bodies from under a cloth barrier after they were pulled from the rubble of buildings, at a hospital in the Sumatran Island city of Pedang, Indonesia, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009. Medical teams, search dogs, backhoes and emergency supplies were flown into the devastated western coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island Friday to bolster frantic rescue attempts for thousands buried by a powerful earthquake. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer). Image may be subject to copyright.
An Indonesian man climbs down from a house that collapsed on top of a car in Wednesday’s earthquake ,in Padang, Indonesia, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009. Medical teams, search dogs, backhoes and emergency supplies were flown into the devastated western coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island Friday to bolster frantic rescue attempts for thousands buried by a powerful earthquake. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer). Image may be subject to copyright.
Situation in the Disaster Areas:
- Power outages are reported in most districts, phone lines are down.
- Water and food are in very short supply.
- Villagers are digging out the dead with bare hands.
- Cost of recovery operation is estimated at least $400 million, according to Indonesia’s Vice President.
- Rural areas are cut off by massive landslides, which have reportedly blocked roads and destroyed a number of villages, killing about 300 people.
- There are no structures standing in the district of Pariaman, a hilly community of about 370,000 about 80 km north of Padang, an AP journalist has reported.
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